


It Started on a Tuesday

by CaptainErica



Category: Big Bang (Band), K-pop
Genre: Baby Shower, M/M, affluent jiyong, what is taeyang's job no one knows
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-23
Updated: 2017-07-23
Packaged: 2018-12-05 16:47:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,759
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11582151
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CaptainErica/pseuds/CaptainErica
Summary: It started on Tuesday, continued (as one could assume) into Wednesday, had not finished by either Thursday or Friday, and was still going strong (with the hope of forever on the horizon) on Saturday.





	It Started on a Tuesday

It started on a Tuesday, while Youngbae was on the phone with Jiyong and trying to buy a baby shower gift for Jiyong’s sister. This is, unsurprisingly to him, how most things start in his life (less the baby shower, more the ‘insert random day’ while on the phone with Jiyong). He’s got a lot to do that day, a lot to get together, but Jiyong spent the first 30 minutes of their conversation complaining about _guest lists_ and Youngbae only knows about a quarter of the people going to the thing so why should he care, and aren’t only women supposed to go? Are there rules? He’d asked Jiyong that when he received the invitation, and the response he’d gotten was rude and very to the point (“Oh, we’re supposed to pretend you don’t like babies, my sister, me, or parties?”).

But he hates _buying_ things for other people, and really, though he’s known Dami for a long time, knows her fairly well, this is for her _baby_ he wants it to be _right._

“She wants green things, everyone is getting her either pink or blue, it’s _tiresome._ ” Jiyong says, and Youngbae wonders silently as he rifles through a rack of baby clothes if it’s Dami or Jiyong who’s tired of pink and blue. “And don’t just get newborn things, obviously, the baby won’t be a _baby_ forever, apparently they grow.” He says, and Youngbae stifles a laugh, because Jiyong sounds bored and put upon and so very tired all at once.

“Green and a variety of sizes, check.” He says, a little distracted, lifting up something that’s decidedly _not_ green, and instead is purple. He looks at it for a few seconds, then adds it to the cart. “And books? I’m sure she’ll get a ton of clothes and things, but what about books?” He asks, because he doesn’t like picking out baby clothes, would rather do something that he understands.

“I’m sure she’d love that.” Jiyong says, a little more normal sounding. “No one’s suggested that, maybe I should get her books, too.” He says, mumbling to himself a little, and Youngbae rolls his eyes to himself, wandering down the aisle and away from the clothes, searching out the books. He almost runs into a man, around his own age he’d assume, fluffy-looking brown hair hiding his eyes from Youngbae’s view.

Youngbae apologizes immediately, despite not having hit the man, and he’s rewarded with a brilliant smile and a softly murmured _“no, it’s alright, really.”_

“Are you accosting people in the store, because if so I have to get off the phone or I can’t be your alibi.”

Youngbae closes his eyes briefly, counts to 6, then says goodbye to Jiyong and finishes his shopping.

~

It continued, as things tend to do once they are set into motion, into Wednesday.

“I don’t even know Jiyong’s sister.” Seunghyun says, coming up beside Youngbae as he’s heading for their office. “I barely know Jiyong.” He adds, which is a slight understatement, but Youngbae lets it slide.

“Don’t tell _him_ that, or he’ll lecture you about what he thinks proper baby shower protocol is for an hour and a half and then call _me_ to tell me that you don’t understand him.” He mutters, sitting down at his desk and stretching a little before getting his work station ready.

Seunghyun scoffs a little, clearly unhappy that Youngbae isn’t on his side with this, and then sighs, leaning on his arm against the top of Youngbae’s cubicle. “He’s too rich and privileged to understand.” He says, and Youngbae blinks, then laughs, because really, really that’s the best way to describe it.

Seunghyun makes his way to his own desk eventually, and Youngbae is able to start working, only to be interrupted by Jiyong.

Jiyong who first tries to call him, which leads to him discovering that he hadn’t shut the sound off on his phone, and then texts him 23 times while he’s trying to shut off the sound and leave his desk, or stay, he can’t decide because he was too heavily jarred by his ringtone. He doesn’t get to make a decision, however, as Teddy, one of the directors, comes in with a young man trailing just slightly behind him.

“Is Seunghyun in?” He asks, and Youngbae nods, pushing his phone deep under a pile of sketches in the corner of his desk, as if Teddy might have heard it, or as if it might offend him by going off again.

“He should be at his desk, do you want me to…?” Youngbae asks, but Seunghyun had heard his name, or was already on his way over, and interrupts.

“Sorry about that, I couldn’t get Sales off the phone; you know how they are.” Seunghyun says, smooth, deep voice running over any annoyance that Teddy might have been feeling (he’s a director in a large company, he’s always annoyed). “I see we’re ready for the meeting, then?” He adds, eyes moving to the man behind Teddy, and so Youngbae’s eyes drag there also, despite having been forgotten for now.

He wouldn’t bet on it, more because he’s not much of a betting man, but he’s pretty damn sure that the man had been looking at him (staring at him). He’s got fluffy-looking brown hair that’s falling into his eyes, and he’s dressed nicely, which Youngbae only notes as he’s leaving with Seunghyun and Teddy, with a button down and dress pants and Youngbae frowns and pulls his eyes away and turns back to his desk. It’s two hours later that he remembers that Jiyong had been trying to contact him, so he heads out into the hall to call him back.

“Hey, Ji, sorry, I’m at work…” He starts when Jiyong picks up, but he’s immediately overrun.

“I _know._ ” Jiyong says, put upon, clearly unhappy with having been ignored. “I’m aware that you work during the day, for some reason.” He adds, very flippantly.

“What do you need, Ji?” Youngbae asks, moving against the far wall, nodding as someone goes past him.

Jiyong sighs, “The caterer called and the food is all wrong, and I just _know_ that the decorations are going to be wrong and—“

“Listen, Ji, how about tomorrow, when I get out of work, I go check in on the caterer, okay?” he asks, mentally sorting his schedule (gets out at 2, gives him time to swing by the caterer’s and check on the menu, and then…).

“Oh, would you?” Jiyong asks, like it hadn’t occurred to him, and Youngbae should be more charitable, because it likely _hadn’t_ occurred to Jiyong to ask, it never really did, it just always felt like Jiyong was trying to get you to do what he wanted.

“Yes, Ji, send me the menu and your notes, I’ll check in with them tomorrow and tell them whatever it is they’re looking for from you.” Youngbae says, relaxing a little, because he can make this easier for Jiyong, who always got too bogged down in the details. “and you can deal with the decorations that way, yeah?”

Jiyong lets out a breath, takes in a calming one, and slowly agrees. Soon Youngbae is back at his work station, finishing up one of his sketches and wondering how he got himself into this.

~

On Thursday, it persists.

“Please try the white cake with the coconut crème.” The man at the catering place says, and it’s the third white cake Youngbae has tried in 2 minutes and he really isn’t sure why he’s being forced to try them at all. “The cheese cake samples will be out—“

“Thank you, but the first cake, the carrot with cream cheese frosting, will do.” He says, polite but firm, and the man nods, agreeing, shuffling him down the line to check on the shapes and sizes and serving.

He’d agreed to come only to save Jiyong the trouble, but now that he’s here, he wonders if Jiyong would have been quicker or slower. Would he have spent the last hour trying everything even though he already knew what he wanted? Or would he have tested the things that he knew he wanted and then left when satisfied?

“Sir, the final menu.” The caterer says, and Youngbae takes the nicely printed list and looks it over distractedly, eyes darting over it without seeing, mind moving on to his next task: calling Jiyong.

“Yes, thank you, this will be fine.” He says, and after confirming the prices and the delivery time, he takes his leave. He’s pulling his phone out of his pocket, eyes on the oncoming traffic to the left as he considers crossing the road before the light, when a man comes up from the right side, moving very fast, and Youngbae is caught off guard as he hears the footfalls get closer and the loud laughter with them.

He turns and only just barely catches sight of brown hair blown backward by the wind, a bright smile on full lips, and small eyes crinkled up in amusement, before the man is gone, along with whoever he’d been laughing with. Something tugs at his memory at the sight, and it feels like something about this is supposed to remind him of something, but he can’t put his finger on it, the moment was too quickly over.

Jiyong picks up on the second ring. “Well, that took you _forever._ ” He says by way of greeting, and Youngbae rolls his eyes, crossing the road when the light turns, and then pausing before turning left to head for his car.

“I’ve yet to perfect the ‘thank you but no’ thing, though I’ll admit to having gotten better toward the end.” He says, and Jiyong laughs, pleased. “But everything looks good, and we re-confirmed when they are supposed to arrive, and when everything is supposed to be served, it’s all set.” He says.

“I should have sent you to the florist today, too, because they’re awful and I’m never buying another flower again so long as I live.” Jiyong says, grouchy, and Youngbae laughs, stopping to lean against the side of his car.

“I don’t believe that.” He says, and Jiyong makes a sound on the other end. “So they don’t have green flowers to appease you?” He tries, and Jiyong makes a sound like he’s trying not to laugh.

“No, they _did_ and they were _horrible_ so I shouldn’t be allowed to make decisions anymore.” Jiyong says, and then he actually starts to laugh. “Oh God Youngbae, this is a mess, it’s just a baby shower.” And Youngbae can only agree with him, shaking his head softly.

~

As it happens, on Friday it was not yet over.

“And so she told me she had some that I could try, but who eats horseradish straight?” Seunghyun asks, leaning against the edge of Youngbae’s cubicle.

“A crazy person, I hope you didn’t ask her out for a second date.” Youngbae says, eyes running critically over his most recently completed drawing.

Seunghyun snorts, leaning a little more heavily against the cubicle wall. “Like I would, but really…” He trails off, the sound of people talking in the hallway catching both of their attention.

“Well, I’m going to be busy tomorrow, and it’s Saturday, I’m not working.” A man says, and his voice is smooth and a little low, and it pulls Youngbae’s attention rather soundly, turning to watch as that man from the day before (and the day before that, and that…) walks past with another man.

“Isn’t that they guy who was in that meeting with you on Wednesday?” Youngbae asks as he passes out of sight.

Seunghyun hums, “Yeah, he’s helping with the reorganizing after the change in upper management.” He says, a little absently, before shaking his head. “Don’t know why they needed to call someone in, but I’m not HR.” He adds, and Youngbae snorts, shaking his head and turning back to his desk.

“Well, I’ve got to finish these sketches before I head out, you going to dinner with Jiyong tonight?” He asks, and Seunghyun shakes his head.

“No, family stuff, I’ll be at the shower tomorrow, though.” He says, and Youngbae nods.

At dinner Youngbae steers the conversation away from the party fairly successfully, despite how many times it seems like it’s going to dip there, until they’re leaving and he’s walking out to his car with Jiyong, everyone else gone in different directions. He’d done _so well_ at keeping the conversation away from the party…

“But the guests, Youngbae, Dami knows some _weird_ people.” Jiyong says, waiting for Youngbae to unlock the car before climbing inside.

“Well, she owns a specialty clothing store.” Youngbae says, shutting his door and acting like that made sense.

Jiyong sighs, leaning back in his seat. “You can’t tell _anyone_ I’m telling you this, alright?” Jiyong says after a moment, and Youngbae looks over at him briefly as he’s already pulled out of the driveway.

“Alright, yeah.” He says, and Jiyong sighs, then starts to fidget.

“We may, or may not, have been using the party as an excuse to set people up.” He says, and Youngbae blinks, a little confused and a lot surprised.

“Well, I suppose that explains why you invited Seunghyun.” He says after a moment, and Jiyong rolls his eyes so dramatically that Youngbae can practically hear it.

“I mean, obviously, why on earth would anyone invite him to a baby shower anyway?” Jiyong asks, and Youngbae almost says that Seunghyun’s sister had invited him to her baby shower but he doesn’t, it’s not the point. “And Dami has the _perfect_ woman for him, anyway.” He says, dismissive.

Youngbae hums, “well, he did just have a bad date, so hopefully it will work out.” He says, but he can feel Jiyong’s eyes on him, like he’s willing him to understand something, or figure something out.

He hasn’t figured it out by the time he’s dropping Jiyong off, and Jiyong doesn’t seem too disappointed by that. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Bae, be early? Help me out?” and Youngbae nods and says his goodbyes.

When he gets home he starts to wonder if Jiyong had been trying to tell him that he was looking to hook _him_ up with someone at Dami’s party, but… Nah, Jiyong wouldn’t do that to him (for him).

~

On Saturday, it felt like it would never end (and that wasn’t a bad thing).

Youngbae got to the venue early to help Jiyong not have a panic attack, which unfortunately meant that the day itself was made even longer than intended.

By the time the first guests had started to arrive, Youngbae had been there for two hours and he was wishing it was the type of event that one drank during. By the time Dami has arrived, shocked and pleased, Youngbae is standing beside Jiyong and ignoring his assigned seat because Jiyong is definitely trying to set him up.

“You have to sit down, food is going to start, and she’s going to open her gifts then.” Jiyong whispers to him, fidgeting nervously with one of his sleeves, eyes very much not on Youngbae as he talks.

“Not until you sit down.” He mutters, and maybe it’s a little petulant but the person occupying the seat next to Youngbae’s, and there was only one person next to him, was the same fluffy-haired man he’d been running into all week. It had all kind of clicked when he saw him sit down, all the random sightings of the man twirling around in his brain and soundly dropping him into a state of mild anxiety (he was awful with people he found attractive).

Jiyong gives him a very severe look, and with a sigh walks away to sit down in his seat, giving Youngbae a look that very loudly says ‘how’s _that_ you idiot?’. Youngbae turns away with an ill-disguised huff, catches sight of Seunghyun having an extremely good time with one of the women he’d been sat with, and forces himself to calm down as he heads for his seat.

“Oh, sorry.” He murmurs as he pulls out his chair, dislodging the young man’s arm from where it had been propped against it. He hadn’t been looking, had been focused on sitting down so as not to feel intimidated or embarrassed by how attractive the guy was, or by how obvious Jiyong had been (I wish he had never told me), and so had missed it entirely.

“It’s alright, I was on your chair.” The man says, looking up at him with a bright smile and laughing eyes, and Youngbae doesn’t know how to read that (is he making fun of me?) so he just sits down, a tentative smile on his face. “I’m Daesung, by the way.” The man says, and Youngbae nods a little in greeting.

“Youngbae.” He says, then catches sight of the waiters coming around, and considers ending the conversation there, but he’s too polite. “How do you know Dami?” He asks, eyes moving over to where she’s seated with her mother and the gifts before they’re drawn back to Daesung.

Daesung who is still smiling at him, who hasn’t looked away from him that he can tell. “I work for the management company that owns the building her store is in.” He says, and then waves his hand a little dismissively before leaning forward like he’s got a secret. “I’ve never been to a baby shower before, not even for my own older sister.” He says.

Youngbae laughs at that, eyes closing briefly as he shakes his head. “Yes, well, while it was a bit of a shock to receive an invitation, I wasn’t entirely surprised.” He says, and he leaves that statement vague, Daesung’s expression changing to one of confused interest, but he can’t ask because their attention is being called to the food and the present opening.

Despite it being far more extravagant than any baby shower that anyone in attendance could imagine, and none are surprised by this really, Youngbae enjoys himself. He falls into conversation with Daesung a few times, drawn into other conversations with those around them, and with Seunghyun who comes over and dominates Daesung’s attention for a little while before leaving them again. He’s slightly smitten with Daesung by the time the party is coming to a close and Jiyong is still looking anxious and drawn, and he wonders if maybe part of the feeling is because Jiyong planned this, expected him to like Daesung.

“Wait!” Daesung says as Youngbae gets up from his seat, eyes on Jiyong because he knows he’s got to stop him from having a breakdown.

He blinks and looks back at Daesung, hadn’t expected him to notice him leaving (their last interaction had been horribly stuttered on Youngbae’s part, and he was still trying to will the blush away. “I’m just…” He waves his hand over at Jiyong, like he’s guilty, like he wasn’t supposed to be leaving, but Daesung just smiles up at him, eyes warm and comforting.

“Just, there are so many people in here, I wanted to get your number first, before you disappear.”

Youngbae freezes for a moment because he absolutely _was_ going to do that, disappear into the crowd and probably die of embarrassment while trying to strangle Jiyong for doing this to him. “Oh, yeah, of course.” He says, warm and far less uncomfortable than he feels. “Let me see your phone.” He says, holding out his hand.

Daesung grins up at him, and Youngbae wonders if he ever isn’t smiling, and hands the phone over. “I think Seunghyun was talking about going out for drinks tonight…” Daesung starts, chipper and nonchalant, as if he’s just saying it to pass the time while Youngbae types in his number. “You going to go?”

Youngbae saves his number in Daesung’s phone, sends himself a message, and then hands it back, collecting himself as he does so. “Yes, it’s been kind of a trying day, I think a drink is well-earned.” He says, smiling at Daesung, and this time Daesung is the one who looks a little flustered.

“Then I think, maybe, I’ll be going too.” He says, taking his phone back happily. Youngbae feels his stomach flutter at that, and he sends another smile to Daesung before going to find Jiyong.

“He’s cute, yeah?” Jiyong asks, one arm crossed over his chest, the other hand poised like he’s going to point at something at any moment. “and if I know anything at all about anyone, it’s that he thinks _you’re_ cute, too.”

Youngbae scoffs a little, second drink of the night in hand. “You’re seeing what you want to see.” He says, but he doesn’t feel it because he’d been thinking that maybe he had a chance as well. Because Daesung was being very encouraging, looking at him, talking with him, smiling at him…

“You should dance with him, that’ll cinch the whole thing, seal the deal as it were.” Jiyong says, picking at his nails, eyes lighting on different people around the room.

“Be quiet, he’s just right there, I’m sure he can hear you.”

“Hopefully.” Jiyong says on a laugh. “Then maybe something will happen.”

He’s got Daesung’s hands on his hips as he presses back against Daesung on the dancefloor only half a drink later. It’s hot, and Daesung’s a good dancer, knows how to keep him close and interested in it. As far as first dates go, it’s not awful, though he could have used less of Jiyong heckling him through it.

After they’ve finished dancing, sitting beside each other at one of the tables their group had claimed, he leans in, happy and just on the verge of drunk. “Next date will be less people, yeah?” And Daesung gives him a surprised smile, warm and hesitant.

“Oh? Already planned it?” Daesung asks, and he’s a little drunk as well, so it’s easier to skip over how this isn’t really a date.

“Yeah, dinner, a movie, very cliché, I’ve heard people like that.” He replies and Daesung laughs and it’s probably the most attractive laugh Youngbae has ever heard.

“Good plan, classics are always good first choices.” He says, warm. “I hope you plan it to happen soon.” He adds, and Youngbae nods.

“As soon as you’re willing.” He says.

Tuesday might have been his first brush with Daesung but today, today feels like the real start, and Youngbae has a pretty good feeling about its chances of continuing.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> I dunno, bros. I dunno where this came from. Be on the lookout for more ridiculous stories coming soon ^^


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